Is Path of Exile’s Dwindling Player Count Simply Due to Fatigue, or is it Something More Abhorrent?
Still bullish for Grinding Gear Games, though!
Path of Exile 1 is still widely regarded as one of the best ARPGs of all time. Its level of complexity allows limitless possibilities, keeping the players engaged for inhumane numbers of hours playing.
Looking back a few years, Path of Exile has steadily been increasing its player count every year until 2025, when its player base started dwindling. The updates or manifestos are still excessively long, but what’s causing this decline?
A Look at Path of Exile’s Player Count in the Last Five Leagues and Player Retention
Path of Exile 1 peak concurrent player count for the last five leagues based on Steamdb:
- Affliction League – 167,593
- Necropolis League – 189,712
- Settlers of Kalguur League – 229,337
- Mercenaries (Secrets of the Atlas) League – 179,556
- Keepers of the Flame League – 185,970
The numbers are still massive, and their all-time peak was Settlers of Kalguur, where it brought in a whopping 229,337 players at one time on Steam. This doesn’t account for players opening the game through Grinding Gear Games’ client and consoles. However, they remain somewhat stagnant despite major updates such as offline sales, an auction house, class changes/rebalancing, endgame changes, and more.
If you look at the player base, the game looks pretty healthy until you look at the game’s player retention for each league.
As a game that requires players to log 100+ hours per league or season, player retention is a strong indicator of how well the league was received. If the players hop in, try out the game, and just give up before even finishing the campaign acts, or even without reaching yellow or red maps, you know things are bad.
The last season, Keepers of the Flame, had the lowest player retention in PoE’s history, which sparked this whole piece as the next season looms this March. Looking at the massive changes, one might argue that it isn’t about a lack of content but rather player fatigue.
Are Path of Exile Players Just Getting Tired of the Grind?
In a game like Path of Exile, one would think that players who play it just enjoy the farming progression, whether it takes 10+ hours or 200+ hours to complete their build; everyone wants that sense of completion.
However, it does take a long time to even scratch the surface of a Path of Exile leaguestart, meaning finishing the campaign, figuring out and researching a strong early game build, playing through the maps, farming currency, researching and building the actual build you want to play, and grinding until your heart’s content.
The first few things in this gameplay loop example could already take 15-20 hours, even for the best players out there. Imagine how long it would take for the average person to finish those first few steps. Players have gone through it repeatedly across leagues, and they are likely experiencing fatigue; even the game’s biggest content creators have recently taken breaks.
The grind is long, but that’s what made it fun for the longest time. Is it time for a change? Maybe having the ability to skip the campaign could also help.
However, if the lower player count isn’t due to fatigue and bad content, could it be that players just need a break from the ARPG genre, especially when other genres are on the rise?
